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 Sri Lanka travel tales
Our customers share their travelling experiences in Sri Lanka.
Read about first hand stories on travel tips and guides, events, entertainment,shopping, food, business and transportation.
Also, you might want to read our
Sri Lanka city guide.
Pages (6 of 8):
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| M Ellam |
10 April 2004 |
Stayed at Apa Colombo House - Colombo, Sri Lanka.
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We didn't spend long in Colombo but do visit the 19th century Galle Face Hotel on the seafront. The National Museum is recommended. Getting around the city is easy and cheap by tuk-tuk, but negotiate the price down before you get in. Paradise Road is a smart shop for interesting local nik-naks and souvenirs. But the cafe is overpriced.
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| E Moore |
10 April 2004 |
Stayed at Queens Hotel - Kandy, Sri Lanka.
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There are a lot of choices when it comes to things to do. The botanical gardens, the elephant orphanage, Matele (herb and spice gardens) or just walking around the lake. Just don't get there on a public holiday. There is a dearth of good restaurants, in fact I didn't find any. "The PuB" is the best bet for a feed, a drink and to meet fellow travellers.
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| M Ellam |
09 April 2004 |
Stayed at Triton, Hotel - Ahungalla, Sri Lanka.
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The coastline around Bentota and Ahungala is bustling with tourists, package hotels and guest houses. The beaches are impressive but the towns along the coast up to Colombo appear for the most part to be busy and choked with traffic. If you're feeling adventurous head up to the capital by train - it's a great way to see the coastal strip.
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| M Ellam |
05 April 2004 |
Stayed at Swiss Residence, The - Kandy, Sri Lanka.
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The Temple of the Tooth is Kandy's main attraction. Escape the traffic for a while by strolling along the lakeside path near the city centre. Plenty of inexpensive restaurants along the main strip as well as a supermarket stocking European products.
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| M Ohlsson |
07 March 2004 |
Stayed at Sunset Beach Hotel - Negombo, Sri Lanka.
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Nice and frendly people but don´t forget to deal hard when you are byuing something. Look around for prices and arrangements if you are planning a trip to Kandy or elsewhere, there are a lot differences in the pricesetting. Never give promises that you don't keep. The local people talked a lot about this. That tourist made promises that they never kept. If you hire a car with a guide and will spend the night on a guesthouse or at a hotel be sure that you pay only for your room when you check out. Our guide put his hotelroom on our bill without our knowledge. The bill said one room but after some thinking we found out that we had paid for two rooms. When it come to shopping. Try to find shops where the prices are set. It saves at lot of energy and it is often cheaper.
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| R Skibnes |
18 February 2004 |
Stayed at Trans Asia - Colombo, Sri Lanka.
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Colombo is a very nice city with great malls and excellent food. Try the Sri-Lankan buffet at Hilton!
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| P Meffan |
28 January 2004 |
Stayed at Galle Face Hotel - Colombo, Sri Lanka.
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Sri Lanka is a fantastic country and Columbo was our least favourite place, once away from Colombo the people are so friendly and the food cheap and accomodation. We travelled on all modes of transport and wouldn't recommend the local buses as although very cheap they get packed, the Govt air con buses are fine. You don't need to do a "tour" it's a lot more fun and cheaper to do it alone and you then can choose where you want to go and how long to spend, the tours will take you to all their friends shops which you may want to see but how many spice gardens can you take?
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| A Pike |
21 January 2004 |
Stayed at Elephant Corridor Hotel, The - Sigiriya, Sri Lanka.
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The location of the hotel means that one can cycle to the Rock Fortress, it's 6km away. A great tip would be to get up really early and organise to cycle to Sigiriya by 7am when the gates open. This way you will be guaranteed to climb the rock in peace and you'll avoid the heat. It's magical at that time of morning when the sun is still rising and the bike ride passes through local communities.
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| K Newman |
23 November 2003 |
Stayed at Regent Lodge - Kandy, Sri Lanka.
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The botanical gardens were interesting and very peaceful. Kandy itself is a nice town - you can walk around the lake and then go for a lion beer in the Queens Hotel!
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| A Lee |
10 November 2003 |
Stayed at Galle Face Hotel - Colombo, Sri Lanka.
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Tours: My visit was 2.5 days, so I only took one tour. For convenience and reliability, I arranged for a hotel car and driver to take the 3 hour drive up the mountain to Kandy, for a full day tour (55USD). My driver spent most of the time braking and honking to pass on the one lane roads, but drivers seem used to this system. Kandy is most noted for the large, colonial-built Buddhist temple (“Tooth Relic temple”). Other touristy stops include the Baby Elephant Orphanage (which I skipped); the Botanical Gardens (spice garden, nice selection of local and rare species); handicrafts shops; and of course, the ubiquitous jewelry shops. Fortunately, it was a holiday (every full moon), so most of the shops were closed, and I was able to stroll along without too many hawking shopkeepers. Non-locals are charged a small entrance fee for the Temple (200 LKR) and Botanical Gardens (300 LKR).
In front of the hotel and during my walks, the tuk-tuk drivers were persistent but not overly aggressive. Advice: carry lots of 50 and 100 LKRs, and bargain, and agree on the fare before entering the tuk-tuk otherwise you will be charged an outrageous price. The fare from the hotel to the downtown area should be only about 100-200 LKRs. Of course, gem and jewelry prices are very inflated for tourists, so bargain hard.
Touts: can be avoided with a friendly "no,thanks" but two, in particular, to watch for: 1) a friendly, elderly gentleman will start a conversation while you are walking down the road, he will tell you he is a teacher for a Blind and Deaf school and then will ask you for a donation, showing you a list signed by donors (all western names). 2) A friendly man will tell you about some special local event he is on his way to attend and invite you along. For example, that today is a special day at the Buddhist temple, when they are showing the bone relics. He will also try to show you the sacred elephant that carried the bone relics and take you to a jewelry factory with the “best, non-tourist,” prices. His tuk-tuk driver will try to charge you USD40 for the “tour.” If you are curious and go along, make sure the tuk-tuk cost is agreed in advance, for each leg of the “tour.”
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